Packet networking is a form of data communication in which data packets are routed from a source device to a destination device. Packets can be networked directly between a source node and a destination node, or the packets can be relayed through a number of intermediate nodes.
In wireless networks, different transmission protocols (such as, 802.11) allow the transmission of information at different power levels and data rates. Depending upon the characteristics of the links between the access nodes, some power levels and data rates can be more desirable than others.
Increasing transmission power levels generally increases the probability of successful packet reception. However, within a wireless network, increasing the transmission power levels increases the probability of the transmission interfering with other wireless communication links, resulting in a reduction in available network-wide airtime and overall network capacity. Similarly, there are tradeoffs to operating a link at different transmit data rates. Increasing transmit rate (if the link supports it) can result in more efficient use of airtime, since it takes less time to transmit a bit. As a result, network capacity can be increased. However, higher data rates require a larger signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver for successful packet reception, and using a higher data rate may result in higher probability of packet loss, necessitating retransmissions.
It is desirable to determine and operate access nodes of a wireless mesh network at transmission power levels and transmission data rates that account for interference the transmission causes with wireless links of other access nodes of the wireless mesh network.